Automatic block-signaling system for electric railways.



O. E. STEVENS. AUTOMATIC BLOCK SIGNALING SYSTEM FOR ELECTRIC HAILWAYS.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 26,1908.

Patented Dec. 7, 1915.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

COLUMBIA YLANOGRAPH C0. WAIHINOTON. D. C.

v O. E. STEVENS. AUTOMATIC BLOCK SIGNALING SYSTEM FOR ELECTRIC RAILWAYS.APPLICATION FILED JUNE 26, 1908.

1,163,182. Patented Dec.7,1915.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

FIGQ.

WITNESSES: INVENTOR 0. E. STEVENS.

AUTOMATIC BLOCK SIGNALING SYSTEM FOR ELECTRIC RAILWAYS. APPLICATIONFILED JUNE 26. I908.

Patented Dec. 7', 1915.

35 N {Q .4 SHEE'IS-SHEET s. W3 i w "\1 7' ,Q Q' Q I 39 w FIGB.

WITNESSES. I 6

O. E. STEVENS. AUTOMATIC BLOCK SIGNALING SYSTEM FOR ELECTRIC RAILWAYS.

APPLICATION FILED JUNEZG, 1908.

Patented Dec. 7, 1915.

4 SHEETSSHEET 4.

WITNESSES: INVENTOR AT ORNEY mvrrnn s'rarns rA'rn'r orrrcn OSCAR EGERTONSTEVENS, OF NEW YORK, Y., ASSIGNOR. TO GENERAL RAILWAY SIGNAL COMPANY, ACORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

AUTOMATIC BLOCK-SIGNALING svsrniaroa ELECTRIC RAILWAYS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 7, 1915.

Application filed. June 26, 1908. Serial No. 440,428.

To all whom it may concern: I

Be it known that 1, Oscar Ecnn'ron STE- vnns, a citizen of the UnitedStates, residing at NewYor-kcity, county and State of New Yorlghaveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Automatic Block-SignaL'ing Systems for Electric Railways, of which the following is aspecification.

hily invention relates to that type of automatic block signaling systemswherein the track rails separately serve as return paths for thepower-current to the power generator; are divided into block sections,and the signaling devices therein are automatically controlled by themovement of the motor vehicles into and out 01 the block sections.

Heretofore it has been the practice to enera normal clear system;second, the signal controlling :devices of the system are normallycontrolled by the signaling currentimpressed upon adjacent blocksections; third, the signal controlling devices may be individuallyarranged to control a plurality of signals. There are also otherfeatures of diilerence which will be apparent to those skilled in theart from the specification and claims. a

The objects of my invention are to generally improve automatic systemsof block signaling by increasing the safety factor and by decreasing thecost of installation and operation, the first condition being obtainedby the fact that positive movement is imparted to the signal controllingdevice in opposite directions, instead of depending upon theaction of aweight, or spring for movement in one direction as is usual, and thelatter condition by providing that the signal controlling device may benormally deenergized, thereby decreasing the cost of the signaling powerapparatus and providing that the signaling current consumed shall be inaccordance with the trail-1c.

My improved system is applicable for us( on electric railways or steamrailways.

The accompanying diagrams will illus trate the various embodiments of myin vention.

Figure 1 is a diagram of a normal danger system. Fig. 2 is a diagram ofa normal clear system. Fig. 8 is a diagram of a normal danger system,but showing the trackway continuous and the signal controlling devicesarrangedin inductive relation with the track rails. Figs. a and 5 showmodifications of my system as applied respectivelyto a steam railway andan elec-. tric railway, with a plurality of signals controlled by asingle signal controlling device.

I wish it understood that the diagrams are merely illustrations ofcertain arrangements which may be made embodying my invention, and thatin practice very many other arrangements may be made,having in mind theemployment ofdevices such as bonds, inductive and otherwise,phase'controlling devices, relays, cross-connections between paralleltrack rails, 810., such as are now well known to signaling engineers.

Referring now to the several figures: In Fig. 1, P is a source of powercurrent fed to the motor vehicles '0, w, y, etc., by the conductor 1 andreturning thence to the source of power P by the rails 2, 3. This powercurrentmay be either direct or alternating. S is a source of alternatingsignaling current and is fed to the block signaling devices by theconductors l, 5. The rails 3 are divided into block sections U, V, X, Yand Z by the insulations 6, 6, 6, etc. In order that the power currentmay return to the source of power P. inductive devices 7 areconnected'to the rails 2, 3 of adjoining block sections. These inductivedevices consist of an iron core 8 and three coils 9,10, 11. Coil 9 isconnected across the rails 2, 3 of one block and a coil 10 across therails of an adjacent block. Coil 11 is connected to a relay device 12.The middle points of coils 9, 10 are connected together by the connector13 so thatthe power current in the rails 2, 3 will flow in at the twoends of coil 9 and out at its middle point through the conductor to the'middle point of coil 10, and thence through the two halves of this coil10 back'to the rails, 2, 3, and so on to the source of power P.Preferably the coils 9, 10, 11 are in good induc tive relation that isthey are sandwiched or otherwise interposed. It will be seen thatinasmuch as the power current flows in opposite directions in the twohalves of the in the magnetic core 8. lat, 14, 141, etc., aretransformers whose primaries are connected across the source ofsignaling current, and whose secondaries are connected across the rails,in a well known manner. The secondaries of transformers 14: areconnected oppositely in adjacent blocks, so that at the rent S. Thisrelay has a rotor member 17 on which is an arm 18 which when the relayis energized in a certain way, makes contact with contact 19, and thuscloses a local circuit 20 and operates the signal mechanism 21. 22 iseither resistance or reactance placed in circuit with winding 16 for thepurpose of decreasing the amount of energy and causing the current inwinding 16 of relay device 12 to be displaced in phase with the currentin winding 15 and thus cause a rotating field to produce a turningmovement in rotor 1'7. The windings 15 and 16 of relay device 12 may beso designed that neither resistance nor reactance 22 will be required.Other types of polyphase translating devices may be substituted forrelay 12. v

The operation of my system as shown in Fig. 1 may be briefly describedas follows: Normally, that is when no train is present, the relaydevices 12 are deenergized, for the reason that the alternatingelectrounotive force of one block opposes that of the adjacent blocksinthe coils 9, 10 for it will be noted that they are on the same magneticcore, and there is, therefore, no electro-motive force induced inwinding 15 to operate the relay device 12. When a train, such as u,enters a block, it shunts the transformer 14, of that block and allowsthe transformer 14 of the block in the rear of the train to,

cause a flow of alternating current in coil 10 to set up an alternatingmagnetic flux in the core 8 and thus induce an E. M. F. in coil 11 tooperate the relay device 12, to close a local circuit 20 and so actuatethe signal to the proceed position. If, however, there is a train in theblock in advance of the train in block X, such as y in block Y, whentrain a? enters block X, the relay 12 will not be energized, for thereason that the transformers of blocks 00 and y are both shunted throughthe two trains and there is no E. M. F. induced in winding 15 of therelay device 12. Then a train passes into a block it shunts the energyfrom coil 9 of the inductive device 7 behind it. This allows coil 10 toset up a magnetic flux in the magnetic core 8 and thus induce an E. M.F. in the relay member 15 to operate this relay, but inasmuch as thiseleotro-motive force will be opposite in polarity from that induced incoil 15 when coil 9 actuates the relay it will open the relay and causethe signal to go to the danger or stop position behind a train.

It will be noted in the abovedescribed embodiment of my invention, thatall the signal instrumentalities including the track circuits do notnormally absorb electrical energy, and that the energy for operating thesignals is only expended when the trains are present and in directproportion tothe number of trains that would be present upon a givenline of railroad. This will obviously greatly decrease the cost of theoperation of a system. This embodiment also increases the safety ofoperation by being a normal danger signaling system and one that isnormal danger from the track circuits.

It is thus seen that where formerly a relay device has been actuated tothe danger or open position by gravity or the tension of a spring, it isin this embodiment of my invention actuated to this position byelectrical energy instead of, or in addition to, gravity or the tensionof a spring. This fact does away with any possibility of the relaydevice sticking closed after the passage of a train into the precedingblock, also should a broken rail or broken bond wire occur, the dangerof a false signal is re moved.

The transformers 14: should be of poor regulation so that'when a trainis in that part of the block that train 00 is in block X the E. M. F.set up across the rails will drop to such a low value that there will besubstantially no excitation of winding 15 by coil 9.

Referring to Fig. 2: This differs from Fig. 1 in that the signals arenormally clear. This is accomplished in this embodiment of my inventionas follows: The M. F.s, induced by coils, 9 and 10 of this inductivedevice 7, are so arranged and designed that they induce opposingelectromotive forces in winding 15 of relay device 12, but they are alsoso arranged and designed that these electro-motive forces,

though opposite in effect on the relay 12 will not be equal inmagnitude. This is accomplished in this diagram by making coil 9 of agreater number of turns than coil 10. Thus the E. 1W1. F. induced inwinding 15,

by coil 9, is sufficiently greater than that in-.

duced in this winding by coil 10, that the relay is normally energizedand the local circuit 20, is closed and the signal, therefore isnormally in the clear or proceed position. hen, however, a train, suchas w, is in a block it shunts the energy from the transformer 14, ofthat block, so that there is no flow of current in coil 9; then the electro-motive force induced in winding 15, by

coil10,f predominates and the relay iselectrically energized to move tothe open post tion and the signal goes to thesto'p position behind atrain: this eliminates anyidangen ofthe relay devices, 12, fromstayingin the closed position after a train haspassed into 'theblock..l-leretofore there has been danger of this occurring, as hereto l oreonly gravity orthe tension of a spring, has been relied. on to openthe'relay contact. i There are obviously a great many ways to accoma plishthis'result without departing from the meaningand intent of my inventlonwh ch is, in this embodiment, to provide an efiicient means foractuating the translating device by electrical energy to assume the openor danger. pos1t1on behind a train, and I claim to be the first tohaveshownhow this could be done. The connection 13 between the coil 9and 10. of lnductive device 7 may beomitted if the embodiments of myinven 1 tion illustrated by Figs. 1 and 2 are applied to railwaysin-whichthe traffic rails are not used for the return of the carpropulsion current. i I j I Referring to Fig. 3:7 is a coil laid ininductive relation to the rails 2 and 3, sub stantially as shown. Thiscoil has one part 92in inductive relation to the closed track circuit ofone block and another part 10 in inductive relation to the rails of anadjacent block." The railsare divided'into block sec-.

tions by the crossbonds, -13 The operation of this embodiment of myinvention is similar to that of Fig. 1, that is, normally the relaydevices, 12, are de'e'nergized and the signals are in the stop position.The electro-motive force induced in one part 9?, of,

the inductive coil 7 by the current led to one track circuit by thetransformer 1%, is neutralized in its effect on winding 15, of relaydevice 12, by the current induced in part 10- of inductive coil 7*,bythe current in an adjacent closedtrack circuit. When train V enters ablock itshunts the current fed to that blockby-transformer14 and allowsthetranslating device behind it to be actuatedto the open or dangerposition by the current induced in partlO of coil 7 also, if the blockin advance is unoccupied, the translating device governing the en;trance to th1s block will be actuated to the closed or clear position bythecurrent in 7 ner similar to that shown in 4. In this Fig. l1 havealso shown a threeposition re- BYH lay designed and connected directlyto the V I track rails so that when energized by one track circuit aloneit assumes one position itlldf when energized by another track circuitalone it assumes another position opposite to the firstyand whenenergized by both traclccircuits'or .when deenergized it assumes aneutral position intermediaterthe othertwo positions. Thus'when atrainen ters block X going in the direction indicated by the arrow b, it willshunt the energy fed to this block section; by conductors li and part 15of the relay coil 15, will be de energized and if block Y is unoccupied,this will allowpart 15 to,energize the relay 12 in such a direction thatthe arm 18 will makecont'act with point 19, therebyclosinglocal circuit20, and energizing the semaphore -21 to the proceed position. When thistrain leaves blockX and enters block Y, it will shuntl the energy fed toblock Y from part 15*, thereby allowing part 15*, to

be actuated in the opposite direction, and allow the signal 21 to go tothe stop position behind the. train by gravity. If a! train enters blockY going in the direction indicated by the arrow at, it will shunt theenergy fed to this block by'the conductors 14a, thereby allowing part15*, to operate the relay so that contact arm 18 makes contact withpoint 19, and energize the signal 21 to the proceed position. If,however block X is occupied when a train enters block Y, all energy willbe shunted from coil 15, and it will remain in the neutral position, asshown. "When either of the blocks X or Y' is occupied, .the energy' supplied to the coil 15 is equal and oppositein w itsetlect to the energysupplied to coil 15". 'Relay device 12, is therefore,normally de- Ienergized and both signals are normally at the stop position. r

In the embodiment shown by F ig. 5 I have obtained the opposite effectsin. the relay by -means of inductive device 7 which has tWo Part9 ofcoil 23 is concoils 23 and 11. nected across a given length of rail 24:of

block Y. Part 1O. ofscoil23, is connected. 1

across a given length of rail 25 of block X. The other coil 11 is ininductive relation with windings 9 and 10 and is connected acrossmember15 of relay device 12. There will be'diiferences of electricalpotential set up acrosslthe windings 9 and 10 by the track circuitcurrents flowing through the im' 'pedance of the rail portions 24 and 25re- These differences of potential spectively. are opposite intheireilecton therelay device 12. The division :ofthe rails in thisfigure is by bond 13 which corresponds with bond 13 oii Fig. 3. 1Theoperation of this embodiment relative ftofthe movement of trains in andout of the blocks is similar in every respect to the operation of Fig.4E.

,be obvious that all the devices-shown in,

these figures ,are interfchangeable, that 1s,

In-Figs-t and 5, for. the sake of clearness,

lock sectionsandsources of supply. v

I do not wish to limit myself to any types of relays translating ortransforming devices, 'for' any relay, translating or transformingdevice, known 1n the art, could be adapted to operate in my invention,nor do I. wish to limitmyself to any particular type of track circuitorflreactance bonding between parallel rails or b-etween"adjacent' blocksections, I have only endeavored to show in these figures a few of the.uses or embodiments of my invention. It will, also the type of trackcircuits shown'in any of the figures could be used in connection withthe transforming or translating devices shown in any of the otherfigures.

Having" thus described my invention, I claim:

l. A signaling system employing closed track circuits and normallydeenergized re: 7

lay devices operated in one direction by the energy in one closed trackcircuit and in another direction by the energy in another closed trackcircuit; V v

2. A signaling system for railways em-. ploying closed track circuitsand normally deenergized relay devices operated in one direction by theenergy in one closed track circuit and in another direction by theenergy in another closed track circuit and signals controlled by saidrelay devices.

3. A signaling system employing closed track circuits and normallydeenergized relay devices controlled in one direction by the energy inone closed track circuit and in another direction by the energy inanother closed track circuit, and signals and local circuits controlledby said relay devices.

4. A signaling system for railways em-.

ploying closed track circuits and normally deenergized relays, each ofsaid relays com prising a stator member having two coils and a rotormember adapted to be rotated in one direction when the energy traversingone of said stator CO1lS 15 in, one direction and in the oppositedirection when the energy traversing said coil is in the oppositedirection, and signals controlled by said relay devices.

5. A signaling system employing closed track circuits of alternatepolarity and nor,- mally deenergized relay devices, each of said relaydevices comprising a stator member having two coils and a rotor member,and one of the coils of the stator member in inductive relation with twoadjacent contiguous closed track circuits whereby when the current fromone track circuit influences said coil the relay will be operated in onedirection and whereby when the current from the other track circuitinfluences said; 0011 theyrelay will be operated in the oppo- I sitedirection, and signals controlled bysaid relay devices. Y I

6. The combination ina signaling system ergy from one closed trackcircuitand in the oppositedirection by the energy from the other trackcircuit, and signals operated by said relay. devices.

7.: The combination in 'a signaling system of means for supplyingalternating currentv of opposite potential to adjacent closed trackcircuits, normally deenergized relay devices operatedin one direction bythe enof means for supplying alternating current of opposite polarity toad acent closed track signals controlled by said .relay devices, andmeans interposed between two adjacent circuits, normally deenergizedrelay devices, i

closed track circuits and the relay deviceswhereby when one closed trackcircuit is occupied the relay device will be operated in one direction,and when the other closed track circuit is occupied, in the otherdirection. 7

8. A signaling system comprising a source of power current, traificrails which serve as returns for thepower current, means for dividingthe trailic rails into block sections 7 which will'permit flow of powercurrent but confine the signaling current to the limits of a blocksection, a'source of signaling current, means for impressing a signalingcurrent upon each'block section, and signal con-, trolling devicesnormally decnergized but adapted to be actuated in one direction whenthe current from one block section flows through them and in theopposite direction when the current from the adjacent block sectionflows through them{ 9. A signaling system for railways em 'iioyingclosed track circuits, normally cleenergized relay devices, said relaydevices actuated to the clear position when energized by the currentfrom one closed track circuit and to the danger position when energizedby the current from the adjacent closed track circuit.

10. A signaling system for railways employing closed track circuits,normally deenergized relay devices controlled by said track circuits,said relay devices being positively actuated by the current from oneclosed 'traclr circuit to the open or danger position, and positivelyactuated bythe current from the other closed track circuit to the closedor clear position. 1

11. A block signaling system employing a coil in inductive relation totwo' track circuits, equal and opposite currents induced. in said coilby the two track circuits and a signal controlled by said inducedcurrents.

' 12. A block signaling system for railways employing closed trackcircuits, a coil in inductive relation to two adjacent track cir cuits,a normally deenergized relay controlled as to its direction of movementby the direction of current flowing in said coil in inductive relationto the track circuits, and a signal controlled by said relay. I

13. A signaling system employing a block signal controlling devicecomprising two members, one fixed and the other movable, the fixedmember consisting of two coils, one of said coils being a composite coildivided into three coils, two of which coils are con-r nected across therails of adjacent block sections of the system and these coils connectedtogether at their middle points, the third coil in inductive relation tothe other two, the said second coil of said fixed member connectedacross the source of signaling energy and the said movable memberconsisting of a closed circuited coil.

14. A block signaling system for railways employing a three coiltransformer one coil connected to one block section another coilconnected to another block section, and the third coil connected to asignal controlling device.

15. A translating device, a combined transformer and reactance bondcomprising a magnetic core, three coils thereon, two of said coils beingconnected across the rails of adjacent block sections and the third coilconnected across the translating device and a signal controlled by saidtranslating device.

16. A bond comprising a core, two coils thereon and a connection betweenthe middle points of each of said coils.

17. A bond comprising a single core having a magnetic circuit of highreluctance, two coils thereon and a connection between the middle pointsof said coils.

18. A bond comprising an open magnetic core, two coils thereon and aconnection between the middle points of such coils.

19. In a block signaling system and in combination with the traflicrails, a balanced reactance bond having a single core constructed tofreely permit the passage of the power current but prevent the passageof the signaling current from block to block,

a relay device having a fixed member and a movable member, with one ofthe coils of the fixed member in inductive relation with the coils ofsaid balanced bond, and its other coil connected across the source ofsignaling energy.

In testimony whereof, I atiix my signature, in the presence of twowitnesses.

OSCAR EGERTON STEVENS.

Witnesses:

H. E. GIFFORD, Jr.,

ELIZABETH BARNETT.

Uopies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. C. i

